MY BIG CLEAR OUT! Here are 3 shelves of my books in A-Z order by author. You can have any 2 for £10 (free P+P). Please share (and buy). UK only.

Sir Ian McKellen performing a monologue from Shakespeare’s Sir Thomas More on the Stephen Colbert show. Never have I heard this monologue performed with such a keen sense of prescience. Nor have I ever been in this exact historical moment.TY Sir Ian, for reaching us once again. #Pinks #ProudBlue

So, this! I am, of course, delighted but also slightly speechless 😊 open.substack.com/pub/weatherg...

and we're open! we're looking for standalone novellas, 17.5K - 40K words, on the theme of environmental justice. check out our full guidelines here: reckoning.press/submit/novel...

Are you in need of a village? We are The Village with All of The Flash Writers. And here's the invitation link: smokelong-quarterly.mn.co/plans/191340...

We are open for submissions of contemporary #microfiction #submissionsopen #callforsubmissions. Please click on the link below for our guidelines. We're looking fwd to reading your words... fictivedream.com/submission-g...

I realised over Christmas that I’d never gotten my second MMR jab on account of childhood moves and policy changes. I emailed my GP and I just got it this morning, free on the NHS. It’s never too late and you can’t overdo it. Please get vaccinated. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Turn your book club into a force for good 📚✨ We're calling on book clubs across the UK to host a book swap, themed dinner, or other bookish bonanza to raise money to get more children reading! Interested? Sign up for your free pack with everything you need to get started 🩷 bit.ly/4bO33qs

AI may be able to mimic literature, but readers will always be hungry for organic, idiosyncratic, flawed and brilliant writing by real human beings. Bec Evans explains why we must keep writing in the age of AI in our latest Issue. Read the full article on our blog ✍️ mslexia.co.uk/magazine/blo...

this sums it all up very clearly, I think: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

A number of people on this platform have been claiming that it's not up to government to shorten people's time on remand, however far beyond the statutory limit that time extends. Well, take it from a very eminent retired judge. It is. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Heyo, I'm trying a new monthly writerly hangout this year — a friendly, curious chat about all the things that spark (and stifle) our creativity... First session's tomorrow, Tues 13 Jan at 11am (recorded if you can't make it live): luma.com/ola4ukki Join The Great Unfuckening!

"Perhaps a person's life force is like a camp fire, and we keep it burning by telling our stories around it." Steven Kelman www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

Tell Keir Starmer our food standards are not for sale. Sign the urgent petition and help stop chlorinated chicken entering the UK: act.38degrees.org.uk/act/chlorine...

Don't give in, don't settle, and don’t let him take a single penny of our money. The BBC must stand its ground and defend the integrity of British journalism. Over 80,327 people have already signed to say we won't be bullied. Join them: 38d.gs/TrumpBBC_SMC... 2/2

Well, Holiday Inn is off the list when I’m on tour www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater...

Dandelions by Sophie Grandval. 1990

The story of Europe’s economic decline while US is 'soaring' is everywhere. But it is wrong. It is a myth. Europe delivers more leisure, longer life expectancy, less inequality than the US. Gabriel Zucman dismantles the myths. @eastangliabylines.co.uk

Three of the top five British grid electricity records smashed in 2025! This is a huge success story, despite what Russian bots and U.S fossil fuel shills scream on X. Every unit of clean domestic energy we produce means a safer future for our children…🥳

1st Jan walk. The omens seem good...

As Northodox elegantly zigs (and therefore zags away from Short form #Sci-Fi) a reminder that their sale ALSO includes all their last year's titles, including my retro-themed collection A Short History of the Future! Last chance to get it on sale? Quite possibly! www.northodox.co.uk/product-page...

This set of observations is produced by my scrolling Reddit and otherwise listening to people talk about "how to write." A) there is no requirement that any of your characters has any sort of "arc" let alone a redemption. B) there is also no requirement that your fiction has a plot.

Thank you to everyone who has subbed so far to our anthology on the theme of BRIDGES! Our editors @sharontelfer.bsky.social & @karjon.bsky.social are busy reading away! You have till 15 Feb to submit your flash. www.nationalflashfictionday.co.uk

we have a story by MM Kaufman @mmkaufman.bsky.social ! it's about an aging man whose reality starts glitching, switching between ordinary life & a staged reality of actors, props, & cardboard a beautiful story with a beautiful ending - u should read this pronto xraylitmag.com/not-everythi...

@gooseberrypielit.bsky.social Submissions are open. Send us a 6-sentence with no more than 400 words. Our response time is usually less than a week. gooseberry-pie.com/submissions/

Our submissions open Jan 5 and will be open a week until Jan 12!

I have another #buyastrangerabook day offer to tell you about. @dustystacks.bsky.social is offering to buy one lucky person a copy of Tender by Lauren Du Plessis. I've added the description, so check it out. If you'd like a copy, just get in touch. UK only.

The shorteste daye The longest nighte Welcome, sun Welcome, lighte

Can you write a #christmas story in 75 words? Submit today! #writingcommunity #amwriting www.paragraphplanet.com/submission.php

The House of Lords fought hard to dilute parts of Labour’s Employment Rights Bill – but the core reforms survived. From sick pay to fire-and-rehire, here's how the landscape is about to change dramatically ⤵️ @eastangliabylines.co.uk @stephenmcnair.bsky.social

Please sign and share 🙏https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/ban-forever-chemicals-in-the-uk

Another lovely #buyastrangerabook offer. Some of @sarahjp.bsky.social 's children's favourite books. The Tiger Who Came to Tea Owl Babies Tabby McTat Otto the Book Bear Sarah is offering to buy one of them for someone, so get in touch if you'd like one.

For those who do not know Bert the Blackbird -He likes to fight cats -laugh at squirrels -launch kamikaze air strikes at pigeons -bathes like a Cossack dancer in an explosion -taps on the window when HIS bath or feeder are empty 1/3

🚨A Petition calling for a full, public inquiry into RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE IN UK POLITICS AND DEMOCRACY has hit the threshold for a debate, but a debate isn’t automatic. MPs need to show support. Email your MP NOW & ask them to publicly support the call for a Commons debate youtu.be/Cnl8MNhwEY0?...

Today we went to Eastbourne. Saw this wonderful bird action near the Pier.

Human rights are universal - politicians may not always find them politically convenient but it shouldn’t fall to any government to say who those rights should & should not apply to. Because none of us then has rights, just privileges that can be taken away by those in power youtu.be/bl0Lm7v_T18?...

Very sad that I felt I had no choice but to resign from The Infinite Monkey Cage - a victory for the transphobes and other bigots - I did it because so much of the media has chosen to believe the kind and empathetic people are a fiction - they are real and so often unrepresented.

YES YES YES thank you @georgemonbiot.bsky.social 🙏 😩AT LAST someone rasiing the alarm about what Europe's plummeting brith rates really mean!! "In reality, without immigration there will be no Europe, no civilisation and no one left to argue about it."⚠️ It's. that. simple.

You better watch out, You better not cry, You better not pout, I'm telling you why, Big Green Books will post to your town, Big Green Books will post to your town. Now make a long a list, We’ll work out a price. We’ll find lots of books to make you feel nice. Big Green Books can post to your town

Despite what you hear from fossil fuel-funded politicians, the U.K has just generated a record amount of clean, domestic wind energy. Enough to power 23 million homes! U.K decarbonisation policy is a recipe for energy security.

new new: "Jeopardy," by Allison Field Bell: wigleaf.com

IT'S THE BIG GREEN BOOKS CHRISTMAS RAFFLE! Tickets are just £2 each! You can win all these SIGNED books + £50 to spend. More importantly, every ticket you buy will help buy books for two amazing schools. JUST TWO POUNDS. More here. www.biggreenbookshop.com/big-green-ex... Please share.

Our garden approaching the Winter Solstice, the heart of winter and the start of the growing year. A few bulb and flower shoots are starting to appear in preparation for the lengthening days. All seems dead and dormant but if you look closely the natural world is alive.

CHRISTMAS RAFFLE (soft launch) I'm doing a raffle. Tickets are just £2 each! You can win all these SIGNED books + £50 to spend. More importantly, every ticket you buy will help buy books for two amazing schools. TWO POUNDS. More here. www.biggreenbookshop.com/big-green-ex... Please share.